Direct nutrition 
                                             interventions                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                           a dearth of actionable research on how to 
                        Transform Nutrition’s research is 
                        structured around three questions.                                                 scale-up and sustain such interventions. To 
                                                                                                           address this we are finding out:  
                        Here we describe our first enquiry,                                                       
                        into direct nutrition interventions.                                                     How essential ingredients of direct nutrition 
                                                                                                                 interventions (e.g. capacity, commitment, 
                                How can direct interventions                                               quality, intensity and scale) are in place, and 
                                targeted at the window of                                                  effectively combined in real-world contexts?  
                                opportunity be prioritised, scaled up                                       
                                and sustained in different settings?                                              What is the appropriate scale and scope of 
                                                                                                                  private sector involvement in 
                        Considerable progress has been made in recent                                      undernutrition reduction, including its strengths 
                        years to understand the causes and                                                 and limitations?  
                        consequences of undernutrition. However, 
                        approaches for scaling up direct interventions 
                        are not well understood. In particular, we need 
                        to know more about scaling up programmes 
                        that offer adequate quality and intensity, and are 
                        targeted at a child’s first 1,000 days.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                           Frederic Courbet / Panos for Save the Children 
                                                                                                            
                        Direct nutrition interventions target the                                          To this end we will: 
                        immediate causes of undernutrition; dietary                                          identify mechanisms for alleviating 
                        intake and the prevention or cure of disease.                                           constraints to scaling up;  
                        The Lancet recommended 16 interventions for                                          investigate private sector involvement in 
                        implementation at scale in countries with a high                                        scaling up direct nutrition interventions; 
                        burden of undernutrition.                                                            investigate operational features that enhance, 
                                                                                                                or detract from, quality service delivery; 
                        Despite progress in understanding the technical                                      analyse cost-effectiveness of bundles of 
                        aspects of nutrition intervention design, there is                                      direct interventions.                         
                        International Food Policy Research Institute; Institute of Development Studies; International Centre for Diarrhoeal 
                        Disease Research, Bangladesh; Public Health Foundation of India; Save the Children; University of Nairobi   
                                                                                                                             www.transformnutrition.org 
                         
                                          Indirect  
                                          nutrition                                                                                                                      
                      interventions 
                       
                      Transform Nutrition’s research is 
                      structured around three questions. 
                      Here we describe our second enquiry, 
                      into indirect nutrition interventions.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                  GMB Akash/Panos Pictures for Save the Children 
                       
                                                                                                  The questions we‘re addressing are:  
                      Direct interventions need to be complemented                                      What are the mechanisms by which the 
                      by interventions that address the underlying                                      synergistic effects of social protection and 
                      causes of undernutrition. These are sometimes                               direct nutrition interventions can be maximised? 
                      called indirect interventions. The question that 
                      our research is framed around is:                                           Under what conditions is agricultural growth 
                                                                                                        most likely to lead to reductions in 
                                 How can social protection,                                       undernutrition?  
                                 agriculture and women’s                                                How can interventions that increase 
                                 empowerment programmes have                                            agricultural productivity and agricultural 
                                 a greater impact on reducing                                     incomes be designed in such a way that they 
                      undernutrition, during the critical                                         increase their impact on undernutrition?  
                      window of opportunity?                                                            How can gendered-governance 
                                                                                                        interventions create conditions under 
                                                                                                  which undernutrition can be rapidly reduced?  
                      To find out we’re focusing on three areas:  
                                social transfers and social protection;                                In a given context, where should the 
                                food security and agriculture; and                                     balance of effort lie; in creating 
                                women’s empowerment.                                             opportunities that directly empower women, in 
                                                                                                  making governance more gender sensitive, or 
                                                                                                  more broadly in terms of influencing wider 
                                                                                                  gender norms?  
                      International Food Policy Research Institute; Institute of Development Studies; International Centre for Diarrhoeal 
                      Disease Research, Bangladesh; Public Health Foundation of India; Save the Children; University of Nairobi   
                                                                                                                   www.transformnutrition.org